Briefs

New Method Predicts Monster Waves

By Robin Lloyd, LiveScience, 3 May 2005

The seven-story freak wave that slammed into the cruise ship Norwegian
Dawn last month was not so freakish after all. Rogue waves are more
common than most people realize, and scientists are starting to
predict when and where they will strike.

Now, Vijay Panchang at Texas A&M University at Galveston and his
associates say they can accurately predict the daily height of waves
anywhere off the coast of the United States for the next 48 hours
across spaces as close as 500 yards apart.

People who live in coastal Maine already use his forecasts, where
Panchang proved his point by comparing his model output with
measurements made by buoys. His predictions frequently show waves as
high as 30 feet, even in close-in coastal waters.